AW: [syndicate] Trans.: [thingist] IAM SPEAKER SERIES: SarahRobbins, March 12, 2007

[patrick lichty]

>From Fmadre
> joking apart, there seems to be a divide between people who are on
myspace 
> and those who are on second life. I think, judging from the examples
I've 
> seen, that second life is favored by those who are enclined to new
ageism and 
> have this mythological idea that technology free them from their
bodily 
> constraints whereas myspace is favored by those who see it as an
extension of 
> their real life activities and encounters


Hey Fred - 
This might be the case for some, but not for me.  When I first went
there, I lived there for about _two months_.  I'll be perfectly honest,
my father was on the verge of dying during that time, and honestly, I
wanted a space where there was always the knowledge that there was a
live warm body _somewhere_.  In addition, I know that I SL, I have at
least 5-10 friends that I can coffeklatsch with at any time, even if I
have insomnia (recently).

However, the crisis passed, and what was a social net (still is, but
less so) is a point of fascination.  I'm more curious about SL than
anything, and although I do not believe that it is the next Web, it is
significant for now.  

For me, it is a place in which I study the sociology and artforms of the
place and then bring those artifacts into the physical.  

I find SL for SL's sake is a pretty weak strategy.  Place it under
virtual identity, digital aesthetics, online performance, or machinima,
all which make outside artifacts, and it becomes far more interesting.

WHAT I DO LIKE:
Community
Now, I have heard Charlie Gere talking about community in regards to
war-torn areas, and so on, and he's exactly right.  Both are under the
same term, but one must not conflate them.  The two are in totally
different contexts.  

When I mean community, I mean that I enjoy this milieu for the same
reason why I enjoyed Rhizome in the mid-90's.  There is a group of New
Media avats there who are 'interested'; some are more seduced than
others, but you'll have that.  They, by and large, understand that the
art market has not come here yet, and except in very few cases,
collectivism and sharing are the norm.  I, with James Morgan, run twin
museums (for free) and host The UPGRADE! SL.  Shin runs Dorkbot over in
Austria, and we come to each other's meetings, and it's all great fun.
It's a fine agora.

However, like the old Rhizome - remember the Stephenson quote from
SnowCrash (from which SL is derived), "   That's why the damn place is
so overdeveloped. Put in a sign or a building on the Street and the
hundred million richest, hippest, best-connected people on earth will
see it every day of their lives."

It is an elite place.  Period.  The learning curve can be a bear.  100
avs will crash a sim.  I take the position of researcher at this time,
being curious, enjoying the time, but skeptical all the while.

SL AS RL ATELIER
Just as other artists have used the Web for gallery exhibitions (with
mixed results), I almost NEVER express myself solely in SL, as I feel
that it the mouse in the fishbowl analogy (?!).  I use it for derivative
media for movies, for blogs, for prints/paintings, for audio, all of
which I am sending to festivals.

In addition, I want to use it for further investigation of my VR work,
which is not a far stretch.  I guess my personal point is that after
having gotten through the 'honeymoon' with SL, I feel like I have a
legitimate use for it as an artist and New
Media/sociological/theoretical researcher.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE/MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SL
In-world, a lot of the artists who are working there say that critics
"don't get it".  But, even as a campus administrator of an island, I
state openly that I feel that SL has possible harmful effects to
society.  These are:

Abstraction from humanity/the physical:  The further distancing from
First Nature, the worst case of abstraction being the Holocaust.  In
many ways, I feel like avs are like cars; when road rage erupts, one is
not considering the other as a person, they are considering them as a
machine, or digital construct.  This is FAR less pernicious than my
previous analogy, but I typically try to learn who my closest friends
are in SL in terms of their physical existence.  When I want to make a
real connection with someone, roleplay does not work.

Technofetishism: The idea that tech will free us.  Need we say more?

TechnoTaylorism: Actually, I think that it does the opposite; it tends
to enslave us more, as we head to the 24/7 work week of ubiquitous
access.  Work becomes more work; play becomes work, and we are even
implicitly asked to be accessible during sleep/meals/sex.

Partial Attention Fragmentation: This is yet another channel we have to
stay on - another IM channel to manage.  This drives me crazy; one day I
had to have 3 IM's open, a phone call, one avatar on my laptop running,
and another at another spot on my desktop.  Although I found it
necessary at the moment, I find it unacceptable as a coming way to live.

Hype: It's waaay overhyped - look at all the materials from the website
to the Official Guide.  The rampant technofetishism is there, and if
anyone reads closely, the economics are being sold, but the Guide tells
you that you will probably spend far more than you will make.

DIFFERENCES:
What I think people "don't get" delineates people who see SL as "THE
NEXT BIG THING", and those who see it as a milieu which can augment
functions in RL/First Nature.  

There are studies that state (I need to find them again) that people who
spend increasing amounts of time in immersive worlds put less emphasis
on physical ones.  With this I agree, and like video games, television,
etc., obsession is usually harmful.

I feel that SL is an 'interesting' milieu at the moment, and worthy of
study.  And as Columbia College's admin for our island, I consider the
whole matter a grand experiment.  


So, in response to Fred, my point is that while Linden is promoting SL
as the panacea to the online world, I don't believe it for a minute.  I
think it is an interesting space, and that I don't expect it's for
everyone.  

I also expect that I don't have the same perspective as most of my
colleagues in SL - my position is interested, but also critical.
Fortunately, I don't think that LL's tech is robust enough to swallow up
the web.

My thought for those who are fed up with SL is to take a breath - the
fad will pass.  Then, SL will have to stand on its merits or become a
subset of the Net.  

For now, I am exploring it as an extension of my visual
sociology/multi-modal pedagogical research of the mid-90's, and my
institution just happens to be on board for it, and gives me carte
blanche.  I'm very lucky.

So, I'm very happy to contribute to the conversation with the findings
of my research, and if you want to come find Man Michinaga or Atari
Writer - please do so, but I don't want you to quit your day job to take
up virtual land speculation.  This is just the meme du jour, and let's
see where it goes.

By the way, I have a Myspeace, friendster, xuqa, Facebook, and YouTube
account as well.

All part of the job of being intensely curious.